I've stalled again ... time to get back on the bike or horse or whatever.Plot
Kathy and her close friends Ruth and Tommy are at boarding school together. 'Donations' and 'completion' are hazy and ill-defined events that are a fact of their lives after school, and consequently are not particularly challenged or investigated. It becomes apparent that the three central characters and their peers at Hailsham College are clones and that the donations relate to their vital organs, and completion to their death.
Write the feem toon, sing the feem toon (Themes)
There are a number of stories going on here. The first is the love story of the three characters: Kath and Ruth's, Kath and Tommy's, and even Ruth and Tommy's. The second story is lurking in the background - it is the issue of harvesting live organs from bred clones. And the final story is for me perhaps the most present one in the book, and that is the relationship between memory and reality.
Love story
For me the real love story is the one between Ruth and Kath. I believe Ishiguro has perfectly captured many of the facets of female friendships, particularly schoolgirl friendships: co-dependent, loving, competitive, jealous, caring, cruel, nurturing, honest, deceitful...the whole enchilada. The other love stories are frankly secondary. These are people who are frozen in this boarding school world. They are children that never grow up. In order to grow up, to develop emotionally into fully functioning adults, they would need access and interaction with people outside their 'system', and they don't get it. And the system is so perfect, and self-actualising, that they don't want it.
Certainly Tommy and Kath have a connection, but it never develops beyond that spark. Just because they are the last ones standing and share a history (and a connection/affinity) does not make this a fleshed out adult relationship. They are only ever children playing at adulthood, and at love and life.
Clones
The most effective method of keeping someone down is for the victim to believe so unquestioningly in the lie that they create their own prisons and chains. And, if they are sold one lie that they can rail against (the myth of 'deferrals'), then the second lie gets ignored (the donations). Also the second lie is so all consuming, so self-fullfilling, that it would be impossible for them to ever get any perspective on it. Their mind is their cage. They have been so utterly indoctrinated and brainwashed that the reality of the donations and completion is just a fact. I have to say, I didn't question the inevitablity of the donations for them. I wasn't frustrated by their lack of railing against the system. This was something that was brought up in group, and this is my take.
Why the Hailsham experience if their future is already decided? The guardians argue it was to prove to the naysayers of the world that the clones had souls, that they were human. But didn't it also give them a quality of life that was better than the alternative? At the end of the day, there are no guarantees for how long and in what manner any of us live, was the Hailsham approach to cloning the best of an unpleasant scenario? Those of us that are meat eaters should consider the same things. Do we care how or in what manner our food is bred and slaughtered to feed us? We should. Banning meat consumption is not likely to happen, so the slaughterhouse is an inevitability. But the way we raise and kill this meat does matter. In the book, organ donation is a fact of the world - and for very good reasons - saving lives. But whose life is more important? Certainly the inevitability of the clones purpose should not detract from the quality of their lives, however short or long. For me, the lie saved them from a much more unpleasant reality. Their indoctrination at Hailsham enabled them to at least experience and take some pleasure from the world, precisely because they were confined and stunted.
History
We are aligned with Kath purely as the narrater of this story. We get special insight into her, but she is not my sort of bird. She doesn't stand for anything, happy to be a sheep and a pawn to stronger and more dynamic personalities (Ruth and Tommy). Although this in itself is very high-school - wanting to be liked, approved of, important to someone (if only through association). I didn't like it then, don't like it now.
It does add something to the nature/nuture conversation. The clones are raised or formed by their peers, rather than by parents or even the guradians. Real life (as opposed to 'clone life') is really just a series of events, internalised and more or less important in the eyes/heart of the person experiencing them. And what is the "real" world anyway? Their experiences are real, doesn't it make that the real world. And is the other world really seperate to them - aren't we all seperate in our own little heads anyway, regardless of the world we inhabit?
Things I did like so much
I really enjoyed Ishiguro's somewhat sparse, unsentimental and practical style of writing. It was very considered, and I enjoyed his pace - which didn't allow me to rush through or skim read.
He doesn't pander to the audience, or spell everything out for us.
Was an extremely familiar portrait of the relationship between women, or schoolfriends. That relationship that doesn't really allow you to move on. It keeps you in that way, that schoolgirl way, which is very difficult to translate into an adult relationship.
Things I didn't like so much
I felt slightly cheated by the 'and that's why I was so amazed at what happened next' technique of keeping us engaged. A little like Ishiguro is a puppet master tweaking us unnecessarily - we are already engaged, you don't have to resort to such cheap pulls! For example, "...and that's why I was so knocked off balance by what he came out with that day we walked around the field." The implication is that something concrete will be revealed, or a life-altering event will take place. Inevitably, it's not so earth shattering - it is just a conversation, a sliver of insight gained. And this is life. There are no full-stops or signposts or flashing neon or spotlights - there is just people muddling through, sharing the journey, sharing themselves.
Final Word
I'm sure there is lots more to say about this book, but I'll leave it here. It's exactly what I'm after when I see the Booker Prize shortlist 'branding' - a thoughtful and great read.
